In
Every Child Matters the government set out aims to help
all children and young people achieve five outcomes that children themselves
have identified as being most important to them: being healthy, staying safe,
enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic
well being.

From September 2008 all schools and Ofsted registered
early years settings attended by children from birth to the end of the academic
year in which they turn five have to meet the requirements of the Early Years
Foundation Stage (EYFS) which reflects these outcomes. Providers have a
duty to ensure that their Early Years provision meets both the learning and
development requirements and the welfare requirements.

The EYFS has four guiding themes which work together to
underpin effective practice in its delivery. The four themes of the EYFS
are:

A Unique Child - every child is a competent learner
from birth who can be resilient, capable, competent and self assured

Positive Relationships - children learn to be
strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships
with parents and/or a key person.

Enabling Environments - the environment plays a
key role in supporting and extending children's development and
learning.

Learning and Development - children develop and learn in
different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development
are equally important and inter-connected.

Observation, assessment and planning

All of our planning starts with observing children, in
order to understand and consider their interests, development and learning.
Our key worker system means that children have their learning journey documented.
These documents consist of photographs, written observations and samples of
children's work and will be presented to you when your child leaves pre-school.
We encourage parents and carers to share these learning journeys with their
child's reception teacher.

The Wider context

We work in partnership with other settings, other professionals
and with individuals and groups in the community to support children's development and
progress towards the outcomes of Every Child Matters: being healthy, staying safe,
enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and economic well-being.